


To Shatter the Start

by Catchclaw



Series: Mental Mimosa [93]
Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Camping, M/M, Odin's A+ Parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 13:24:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15413886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catchclaw/pseuds/Catchclaw
Summary: One summer, Odin sent them away.





	To Shatter the Start

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Camping. Prompt from this [generator](http://colormayfade.tumblr.com/generator).

One summer, Odin sent them away.

Not so far away that the vista of their father’s great palace disappeared from the horizon entirely, but far enough so that it would take a full day’s ride and a night for them to reach home again.

Odin said: “You must learn to live with the land, my sons, from it. The other Realms are not all as kind as Asgard, nor as bountiful, and there will come a time when you will need to subsist only on what those worlds have to offer. In a time of war, perhaps, Thor; or a time when the peoples of that Realm require wise guidance, Loki. But your education for such times to come must begin here, in the fields and forests of Asgard, with only your wits and your knives to rely on.” Here he had leaned forward, bent down a little from the broad shoulders of his throne, and handed them a rare smile, a twinkle in his one, great eye. “It will be difficult, boys. You will struggle. But I have no doubt that, in the end, you will succeed.”

Two months, they were to be gone; longer, Odin said sternly, if they dallied about or seemed not to take his mandate seriously.

“The eyes of your king will be upon you,” he reminded them on the morning of their departure. “Not every moment of each day, but enough to know how well you are following his instructions. Is that clear to you, Loki? Thor?”

“Yes, father,” Thor had said proudly, for he saw this task as an honor, a sign that Odin had finally begun to recognize he and his brother as men.

“Yes, father,” said Loki, with rather less enthusiasm. For him, what lay ahead felt like a trial, an imposition, an unnecessary test of their mettle. Thor was already a sword-bearer; another year and his combat training would begin in earnest. And he, Loki, was to his own mind already a divinator; a nascent magician, perhaps, but a magician nonetheless. That Odin required proof of their worth beyond their burgeoning skills outside of the great halls of the palace struck Loki as silly, if not downright insulting, and he very nearly said so.

But then he saw his brother’s face, golden and pleased and lovely, and he could not bring himself to rupture the moment, to shatter the start of what Thor clearly saw as some sort of adventure.

He turned his eyes, then, to the All-Father, and did not smile, but gave a small sort of nod: _I will play your game, old man, by your rules. But I won’t like it_.

Thor’s sword was taken from him, as were Loki’s beloved tomes, and in place of their weapons of choice, each was given a dagger with a simple, six-inch blade. They stepped from their palace robes into the soft clothes of summer: cool linens and short, rugged boots. Even their hair ties were taken, the slim bands of color each wore to hold the long strands free from their faces as all children did; now, it seemed, in the forest, they were to hold themselves as men.

“You will return when the summer passes her wane,” Odin said. “Unless you receive a message otherwise.”

“From whom?” Thor said. “Who should we look for?”

Odin chuckled. “You should look for no one, my son. If such a message is necessary, trust: it will find you.” He took a step back into the shadows of the place, drawing his honor guard with him. “Do well. Do as I have asked. And do not embarrass your mother.”

Then the wide doors of the palace closed and there was no way to go but forward.


End file.
